"So Much Grief and Not a Tongue": Shakespeare's Use of Digression in the Rape of Lucrece

The Rape of Lucrece, the long digression known as "the matter of Troy" enhances the theme of a conquered city. Through the digression, in which Lucrece examines a tapestry of the Trojan War, Shakespeare illustrates fully the metaphor of Lucrece as a city, a theme that he has alluded to numerous times in the portion of the poem leading up to the tapestry. David Bevington writes that the painting of Troy contains "obvious relevance to Lucrece's sad fate: Troy is a city destroyed by a rape." In addition to the city theme, Bevington mentions Paris' selfishness and Sinon's deception. Shakespeare uses the tapestry to describe Tarquin, who encompasses both of those aspects as the conqueror of Lucrece. Lucrece's understanding of the conquering of Troy gives her the resolve to tell Collatine and not let Tarquin's action go unpunished.

Shakespeare successfully blends "the matter of Troy" and the rest of the poem by unifying both with the theme of Lucrece as a city that Tarquin conquers. He develops the metaphor over the course of the entire poem leading up to the digression and renders it finally and most clearly within the tapestry. Referring to Lucrece as a city, Shakespeare says: "Honor and beauty in the owner's arms / Are weakly fortressed from a world of harms."

While Tarquin debates whether or not he will actually go through with the rape in line 287, he thinks of it as an invasion. Shakespeare says that Tarquin "marched on to make his stand / On her bare breast, the heart of all her land." Tarquin's hand upon her breast is a "Rude ram, to batter such an ivory wall." When Lucrece tries to resist his advances, "This moves in him more rage and lesser pity / To make the breach and enter this sweet city.". Tarquin speaks of Lucrece as a "never-conquered fort," "which I to conquer sought with all my might." Thus Shakespeare develops the theme of a conquered city over the course of the poem leading up to the digression.

During "the matter of Troy" itself, Shakespeare uses the figures and objects in the tapestry to allude to Tarquin and describe his characteristics as a conqueror. The first mention of the city of Troy, "Before the which is drawn the power of Greece," regards the siege by the Greek army. The "power of Greece" is the Greek army, but the in the same way, Tarquin can be seen as the "power" of Rome in that he does what he wishes to whom he wishes. Shakespeare even gives Tarquin the name Superbus for his exorbitant pride. The next line: "For Helen's rape the city to destroy" refers to Paris and the way that he steals Helen of Troy from the Greeks, which starts the war. Rape in this sense means kidnap, or a carrying off of a woman. Paris precipitates the suffering and sorrow of all the people in his city, as well as the destruction of Troy. Because Tarquin wants a night of pleasure, he gives in to his lust and in the process destroys Lucrece, just like the Greek army destroys the city of Troy. Beyond Lucrece, the rape touches all of Rome through the eventual exile of Tarquin and the resultant change of the Roman government from a monarchy to consuls. Troy can then extend to symbolize Rome, and just as Paris forever changes his city of Troy by taking Helen, Tarquin forever changes Rome by raping Lucrece.

Lucrece also sees Tarquin in the character Sinon, "Whose words like wildfire burnt the shining glory / Of rich built Ilion, that the skies were sorry" (1523-24). Sinon's deception, in pretending to have deserted the Greeks so that he can enter the city and persuade them to accept the wooden horse, destroys the city of Troy. In the same way, Tarquin uses deception to enter Lucrece's home.

Even the wooden horse can be compared to Tarquin. It gains entrance to the city of Troy through deception, because the Greeks pretend that it is a gift. Once inside, the Greeks slip out of the horse and let in the Greek army. Tarquin puts Lucrece at ease when he visits her and "stories to her ears her husband's fame / Won in the fields of fruitful Italy." When she goes to bed, like the Greeks hiding in the horse who have waited until nightfall to open the city gate, he leaps from his bed "bewitched with lust's foul charm." Also, the visual imagery of an army forcing its way into a city to conquer it can be compared to the image of a rape. Shakespeare incorporates "the matter of Troy" into

Lucrece by developing the city theme throughout the entire poem. Also, he uses characters in the tapestry, Sinon and Paris, to describe Tarquin and his conquering of Lucrece because of lust and through deception.

Although Shakespeare confines the image of Lucrece to the city, he allows Tarquin to be seen in Paris, Sinon, the Greek army, and even the Trojan horse. This suggests that Tarquin's deed is so foul and has such ramifications that one character cannot encompass him. Shakespeare needs the entire story of Troy to fully capture what Tarquin has done, and this contributes to the success of the digression because Shakespeare puts Tarquin's deed into perspective, as well as the consequences of his deed. Tarquin does not merely injure Lucrece; he destroys her. She ends her life because of him. Rome changes its form of government because of him. This is not a deed without extreme consequences, and Shakespeare enlarges the persona of Tarquin in the digression by connecting him with every element in the myth that counters Troy.

In addition to the metaphorical use of the digression by Shakespeare to illustrate what has happened to Lucrece, when she views the tapestry and notes the stories behind each of the characters, she gains the resolve to not let what happened to her go unanswered. By this time in the poem, she has already sent for her father and her husband, but she has yet to tell them anything. When her maid asks why she is crying, Lucrece says to her, "if it be told, / The repetition cannot make it less; / For more it is than I can well express." This shows how hard it will be for Lucrece to speak of the incident when Collatine arrives. She has, however, already planned to tell Collatine and then kill herself because of her shame.

When she looks at the tapestry, she sees the figure of Hecuba, the Queen of Troy. In her, Lucrece sees that the painter "had anatomized / Time's ruin, beauty's wreck, and grim care's reign." Lucrece notes that "Of what she was no semblance did remain." Shakespeare describes Hecuba as being a person living in a dead body because of her sufferings, and Lucrece relates to Hecuba and her sorrow. Lucrece also remarks that in Hecuba the painter "did her wrong / To give her so much grief, and not a tongue." In the next stanza, Lucrece speaks out loud and says that she will give voice to Hecuba's woes, and she will cry her tears and scratch out the eyes of Hecuba's enemies. She will use her nails to tear the image of Helen, so that Paris cannot lust after her and cause the war. Lucrece weeps for the sorrows of Troy as if they are her own, because they are her own. When she finally sees the picture of Sinon, "such passion her assails / That patience is quite beaten from her breast." At this point, she realizes the futility and foolishness of her emotions when they are directed towards the painting. Now, full of passion, she comes back to reality and faces her own situation again. Lucrece "looks for night, and then she longs for morrow, / And both she thinks too long with her remaining" because now she cannot wait to tell her husband. She has sympathized with Hecuba and seen herself in the tragedy of the city, and she knows that she must voice her grief, however difficult that might be.

Bevington is right that "the matter of Troy" plays a vital role in the poem. Shakespeare uses it both to strengthen the city theme, and to heighten the characteristics of Tarquin as the conqueror of the city. The city theme seen throughout the work unifies the digression with the poem. Lucrece sees herself in the tapestry and gains the determination to tell her sad tale, so that she will not become one of the characters in the tapestry, with "so much grief and not a tongue."